Aqua Vitae — Mikala Ash

In matters of love, the past is sometimes best left where it belongs. They say one's first love leaves an indelible mark upon the psyche. Audrey Purcell's first lover, Kirk Mason, disappears in the aftermath of a bomb blast, and the bittersweet experience transforms the shy, bookish girl into a brazen and reckless risk taker.

Each shore leave sees her swimming in alcohol and rejoicing in one-night stands -- the latest fling with Joachim Muller, a navy commander with the body to die for. Now a navigator on an independent rain-catcher, Audrey's career takes a great leap forward when she is given command of a derelict, the Aqua Vitae, found abandoned on the high seas -- its reactor shut down and its crew murdered.

Audrey's success comes with a price, as the echoes of her painful past clash with the promise of the future, and threaten her lifelong dream with destruction.